ITCHING EARS

Are your itching ears being satisfied by what you hear, see, read, and share?

I will admit that I hate watching or reading the news and always have. Even as a small child, I could feel fear hurled at me through news outlets.

However, over the past few months, I have been inundated with “news” through my social media feeds. I am frustrated with what I’m exposed too.

You may be thinking at this point “Great, I can agree with that,” but wait. I’m frustrated because as an eighth-grader I was exposed to 2 Timothy 4:2-4:

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Where is the truth? Who is telling the truth? It doesn’t matter what side you lean toward, there are thousands of teachers, leaders, friends ready to say to you that you are right. It is astounding to me that 2 Timothy is being played out right before my eyes.

With excess time on my hands, I decided to learn more about Godly dreams that fulfill the prophetic words in Joel 2:28-29.  God says people will dream dreams and see visions. So, I asked God to give me new dreams. The first one I had after that prayer revealed that many of God’s gifts and attributes are hidden behind closed doors. The only one that was released was TRUTH.

In my dream, I asked, “Why?”

God’s answer, “I need My truth to permeate the world – the real TRUTH. The truth of My Son, who is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.” (John 14:6) Then I woke up.

As a result of this dream, I’ve spent time observing what is going on from a different perspective. I’m convinced that God’s TRUTH is getting lost in the flood of good opinions.

You may ask, at this point, how would His TRUTH be displayed or determined? Here’s the tricky part for each of us – are we going to interpret that question according to our pre-existing thinking, or are we going to actually take time to seek God’s face, to get quiet before Him and listen, and I mean really listen.

Let’s take a little test:

How many of you have or are experiencing fear because of what you are hearing and seeing?

The Bible has a lot to say about fear like:

I John 4:18

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Or read: 

Psalm 91

I will say that I’m not yet made perfect in love, because I’m often blindsided by fear with all that is going on in the world and my personal life. I have to forcefully remind myself that God is bigger than all the bad stuff, and only He understands all of the moving parts.

In my quest to cope with the bad stuff, I turned to the book of Job in the Bible. For thirty-seven chapters, everyone gives their opinions of why bad things are happening to Job and expect him to act according to their thoughts. Then in chapter thirty-eight, the Lord starts speaking, and He is not happy – Job and his friends get a tongue lashing. Finally, Job puts his hand over his mouth until almost the end when he says in verse 3 of chapter 42: 

“You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
    Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me to know.”

Maybe, just maybe, we need to put our hands over our mouths before we speak and listen to God for direction and guidance. I know it’s hard when there is so much coming at us from all directions, but God’s TRUTH will win the day every time.

Here’s my challenge to you (something I do consistently):

1. Immerse yourself in the Bible regularly (reading or listening) – get a feel for how God reveals Himself through the words and stories.
2. Then take time to ask God what He is thinking – start with 5 minutes and write down what comes into your head. Use the Bible to “Fact Check” – does what you’ve written confirm what you’re reading or contradict it?

Over time your ears will only itch to hear God’s Truth, and you will be able to pick it out of the crowd of voices, and it will release love, and not fear. (John 10:2-5)

Andrea